In this part of the world, people with deformities of any kind are usually seen as those with ill-fated destinies that are subjected to destitution and, most times, regarded as societal nonentities. Recently, after reading the profile and life history of Helen Keller (1880 –1968), an American, who got blind and deaf after an illness at the age of 19-months, my perception was changed, and I am made to believe truly no situation in life is doomed to a state which cannot be salvaged. With determination and support from willing hands, that situation we think is irredeemable would become a success story. I may sound here a little like motivational speaker, but really, I am baffled how this American became the first blind-deaf human to get a Bachelor of Arts Degree and move on to become a renowned lecturer, world- famous speaker and author of 12 published books and several articles.
During her era, she travelled to over 39 countries and dined and wined with world leaders and famous figures across different countries. She was privileged to meet every US presidents from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon Johnson. Keller did not, on her own, make the transformation to become a world celebrated personality. Anne Sullivan who was also blind was the ‘miracle worker’ behind this remarkable success story. How was Sullivan able to teach a blind deaf to read and write? This task, indeed, requires much tolerance and patience. She started by spelling the word D-O-L-L on her palm. This was the present she brought along to Keller.
In her own world, Keller was wondering what this lady was trying to do. She was frustrated at first, and in annoyance broke her doll. It was not until a month later that Sullivan had a break through. She spelt W-A-T-E-R on Keller’s left palm and poured cold water on the right. After several attempts, when Keller was taking her bath, suddenly she felt the coldness of the water on her body and reasoned that substance was what Sullivan was trying to communicate to her.
After this breakthrough, she began demanding for the names of every other thing she could think of. The lesson from the above story highlights the effectiveness of perseverance, eagerness and wilful heart in making the insurmountable workable. In Nigeria, the skills and education of many physically-challenged people on our streets can be developed to enable them make meaningfully contribution to their lives and society. If government, private organisations, and individuals can put up a determined will to invest in the lives of this category of people, not only would the relegation and belittling they are subjected to on daily basis be eroded, the pride and joy of seeing their contribution in the society where they live would also be a thing of joy to them.
There has been recurring accounts of discriminations for physical-challenged persons, especially during recruitment for vacant job positions. Their fate remains unchanged as the society in which they find themselves have not shown the utmost will to execute programmes that would better their lives. I know there are some government initiatives like the skill acquisition programme being run by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to physically challenged persons, but more needed to be done to remove the spate of begging that has virtually taken over all streets in major cities across the country. While contributions are required from individuals and private organisations, it is admonished that government should put the machinery in place to fine-tune those available skill acquisition programmes for physical challenged persons. The will to fully implement this is desired for effective results.
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